Woeful West Ham United slumped to a dour, dismal defeat at the hands of rampant Chelsea at London Stadium on Saturday.

And following earlier reverses against Aston Villa and Manchester City, it means they have now lost their opening three home league matches of a season for the first-time ever.

“It’s very frustrating because we came into this game with big expectations,” grimaced Julen Lopetegui after recording an unwelcome hat-trick of losses and registering an unwanted slice of Hammers history.

“We need to do much better because if you are not consistent against teams like Chelsea then you will suffer just like we have done.”

Indeed, with a double-barrelled blast from Nicolas Jackson firing the Blues into a two-goal lead inside the opening 18 minutes, disjointed, disorganised and in disarray, West Ham were all but out of this contest before it had barely begun.

“I will have to review the game later but we gave away two early goals and it was a very soft way to lose,” continued the recently-appointed head coach.

“We had set out to compete and win but after that it was always going to be very difficult for the rest of the match.

“We had a good opportunity before they scored but it’s not about creating more chances and winning more corners than your opponents - in the Premier League it’s all about scoring goals and we have to change our style of play to be more consistent.”

Indeed, with Jackson netting in the fourth minute before then doubling his tally less than a quarter-of-an-hour later, Lopetegui found himself constantly tinkering with his defensive rearguard, while making drastic running repairs in a futile bid to prevent further damage.

That saw Tomáš Souček surprisingly summoned from the bench before the interval as Guido Rodríguez reluctantly retired.

“I had to make a tactical decision to take off Guido but whenever that happens it’s not the fault of the player it is the fault of the coach,” conceded the Spaniard, whose hopes of any second-half comeback were quickly extinguished within seconds of the restart after Jackson turned provider for Cole Palmer to claim a third goal for the barnstorming Blues.

The crestfallen home faithful were streaming away long before the final whistle, wondering just where those elusive first points on home soil will come from.

“As coach, I am responsible for the matches and we need to talk and think about the future,” added Lopetegui, who now faces a tricky trip to Liverpool for the Hammers Carabao Cup third-round tie on Wednesday (8pm) before returning to Premier League action at Brentford on Saturday (3pm).

“The crowd have the right to complain and the only solution for us at the moment is to do better. The players need to improve and give good days to the fans.”